I train at an MMA gym. The kickboxing, Muay Thai, and boxing classes are doing great. Lots of participation, and the competitors are winning at the highest levels (UFC, Bellator, BKFC, etc). The fight team does BJJ during the day which is working out great, but the evening classes have shrunk to the point where we were told last night that class times are moving later and to only twice a week. The same school that comes in to teach daytime BJJ teaches evening, but evening is dying. Has anyone dealt with a gym that is successful with fighters, and is a big striking gym, but that just cannot get a BJJ program going? Any thoughts, tips, or advice?
FTR, I do not own the gym, but I am one of the few who trains both striking and BJJ there and I would absolutely hate to lose the BJJ program altogether as BJJ is my true love.
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Fuck man that sucks.
Do you have access to the mats? See if you can get access and recruit a drilling partner or two to try to get back the mat time you’re losing now.
For a long time I’d try to get an hour a day with 1 or 2 partners: set a timer for 5 minutes and take turns being the uke.
So I might drill a pass for 5 minutes, then be a dummy for whatever they are working on for 5, then 5 more minutes of whatever you’re working on. You can even positionally spar lightly if you’re working on a specific thing (like let’s start in my z guard, give me different reads).
The only time it really doesn’t go well is if one guy says like “I’m working on over the chin RNCs, so I’m going to do them to you for 5 minutes”
But if you are, say, working on butterfly sweeps. Tell the uke what reaction you want them to give and get reps. It’s a pretty productive use of time
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God, can you faggots talk about anything but jiu jitsu?
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You mean, in the BJJ ground section of an MMA forum?
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Yes. That is exactly what we come here to talk about. I am at this precise spot on the internet to discuss BJJ, because that is what this precise spot is made for.
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Yes. I have a section of mat that I have been working with a new guy that I can get more people involved in. I already plan on doing that. It sucks man, class last night there were 2 people. Boxing mats were full, 2 dudes BJJ. Now they are moving class to later, and neither of those guys can make that time. So, we will have 7pm BJJ twice a week now with nobody confirmed to be there. This thing is dying man, and it sucks.
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This seems to be common around the gyms I’ve been to. Grappling takes a back seat to the boxing, kickboxing and MMA classes.
It showed up on the regular ug. New forum bullshit.
I mean, kinda? There is room for both. We have a very good school affiliate that has a packed BJJ gym on the other side of town, but it isn’t gaining speed at our location. We have a top notch facility. Currently BJJ classes are in the full sized octagon, which is plenty of room. If we had more people than the striking classes, BJJ would move to the main mats.
The head coach of the gym is a striking coach, so yes, striking is his primary goal, but it isn’t like we don’t have good coaches and a good program with a strong lineage in the gym, it just isn’t growing. There are two other BJJ only schools within 2 miles, one is a block away, and they have packed classes. One has both BJJ and striking and from what I have seen, both programs are strong with high attendance. I am not sure what the problem is. We have a badass facility, good instructors, etc. Why is BJJ not taking off at our gym? I can’t answer it.
BJJ is still a hardcore type of martial art compared to TKD and karate. People in the gym would rather train Turbo kickboxing than sweat it out grappling.
The UFC gym I go to is similar. Tons of people for boxing and kickboxing but just a dedicated few training grappling.
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That’s what is strange. Most people on the mats are fighters. Yeah, there are casuals like me, but on most nights half or more of those in the striking classes are active fighters, kickboxing, muay thai, boxing, and MMA. Those who do MMA will train with the fight team in daytime or at other gyms for grappling. I don’t know why the evening BJJ class gets no love.
Is the evening BJJ class Gi or NoGI?
Mine is an MMA gym as well. Both classes are packed. The NoGI Advanced is a mix of casuals and pro fighters (though mostly Amateurs) who need the additional grappling practice.
The Gi class is almost all recreational folk though.
Good question. Almost all gi. Thursday is the only no-gi class we have. As much as I love gi, I told the head coach that I think it should be flip flopped, one night gi, the rest no-gi. Gi just doesn’t fit the gym. I mean, if you have packed classes, you can do more, but in an MMA gym no-gi just makes more sense. I do believe the lack of no-gi classes has been detrimental.
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That’s crazy.
There must be some reason it’s so hard to get people into BJJ.
My first guess was it’s crazy gi or self defense heavy (not that I’m against those, they just aren’t very popular). But I’m guessing it’s not since it’s an MMA school
*Edit your comment that it’s mostly gi answered my question I think.
Our gi classes are dying too. We switched to 2 gi nights and 4 no gi. I think we’re going to 1 gi might soon
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What are peoples thoughts on noise in a BJJ gym? One thing I think makes BJJ sort of rough at this gym is that while we are training, there is always loud music blaring, people hitting bags, and just a lot of noise. I think it amps people up, and classes are generally very rough and tumble. My previous school would be dead quiet during instruction, with music during rolling. It completely changed the vibe and, in my opinion, was a better environment to learn in. When class moves to 7pm, BJJ will be the only class in the building. I think this will allow more control over the overall environment (no bags or loud music) and I think that will help a lot. Also, we will move to the big mat, and out of the octagon. I don’t think this will change anything really, but I guess more room can’t hurt.
Thoughts on noise, particularly during the technique time of class?
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I liked the way my old school did it. We were primarily gi in summer, and no-gi in winter. There were always no-gi/go offerings, but it would be heavily weighed in one direction depending on the season.
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This definitely makes it rough, especially if you have teacher getting super technical.
Our place is lucky enough to have 2 separate rooms so the striking and BJJ rooms can’t hear each other
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Yeah, that is the only downfall of our gym. Otherwise, it is top notch. I think if BJJ were in its own room it would change literally everything. The noise makes it hard to hear, hard to convey information, and honestly I see people going so hard, even during technique, and I fully believe it is because it is so loud in there with punching and people yelling when they punch and shit that people just get worked up without even knowing it. Like the volume of the place just makes people go hard. There is a time for that in BJJ, but not during technique. I think it makes a huge difference and is not great for learning BJJ.
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Can’t really jive with hard rock during rolling, only for lifting. Interesting topic, what music to play when rolling? Trance?